Who Now?
by DreamingCrow
Summary: Holly thinks life is dull. Artemis has forgoten the people, but he is starting to find them again. Then, fairy technology somehow gets back into the hands of the mud people, and The People must ask Artemis for help.CHAPTER 8 IS UP! R&R please!
1. Mud Men

Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl. I never have and I probably never will *sigh*. A/N this story takes place after the end of the third book, and, this is my first fanfic, so please be kind.  
  
Chapter One: Mud Men  
  
It had been two months sense she had erased Artemises memory. Holly knew she would never admit it, but she missed him. Without him messing with the fairies, life seemed pretty dull. Even with LEP duty there was never so interesting adventures as there has been. Foaly had a rather good idea of why Holly was in a grouchy mood lately, but he knew she would kill him if he said anything.  
  
Holly was making her way through the line of leprechauns, fairies, dwarfs and other versions of The People outside the LEP office. She put her on helmet her to block out the voices of them all complaining about this and that. They were always there.  
  
As she went through the doors she heard a familiar voice, "HOLLY GET IN HERE!" Ah well, so close, Holly thought to herself, Root would never change, he'll yell at me even if I were an hour early.  
  
"Yes Commander Root," Holly said coming to attention.  
  
"Do we have to go through this ever day! You should have been here two minutes ago!" Roots face was its usual magenta and in his rage he had forgotten to take his fungus sugar out of his mouth.  
  
"I'm sorry Commander, I will do better tomorrow," Holly said that almost ever day and today was no different then any other in that Root made no further comment.  
  
At that moment Foaly's face appeared on the plasma screen behind Root.  
  
"Commander, you might want to have a look at this recording I was just sent from Trouble Kelp. Oh, Holly your there too, you should also come."  
  
"What is it Foaly?" Root asked.  
  
"Just come, all right?"  
  
Root picked up his helmet and started to the door. When he reached it he paused, "If this is a joke your pay check will be cut in half, pony boy." Foaly wasn't listening because no reply came back.  
  
Holly followed Root through the station, when they got to Foaly's lab they saw him seated on his swivel chair watching a recording. He turned around when he heard them come in. "O.K. Trouble was flying back from a mission when he saw some mud men fighting so he recorded it."  
  
"FOALY! YOU KNOW I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WATCH MUD MEN FIGHTING! THEY DO IT ALL THE TIME YOU SILLY PONY!"  
  
"Just wait until you see this, Julius," Foaly replied, as if Root had never shouted.  
  
"Don't you call me Julius..." but Root stopped as he saw what was on the screen. "Can you stop if right there?"  
  
"Yep," Foaly stopped the recording right at the time when the three people fighting drew guns.  
  
"Oh, of all the things to happen next, this must be near the worst," Holly said under her breath. The tallest of the three fighters held in his hand a Neutrino 2000.  
  
"D'Arvit," Root swore.  
  
"Who is it this time," Foaly groaned.  
  
"Let's think, who could possibly get a hold of fairy technology and sell it for a profit," Root retorted. "Someone by the name of Artemis Fowl."  
  
"We did erase his memory, so I think it would be rather hard for him to sell our technology," Foaly informed the Commander.  
  
"And you really expect him to not have a way to get it back?"  
  
"Why don't we look through the cams we have on his house?" Holly said, breaking up the argument that was taking place.  
  
"O.K. just take a second here," Foaly said as he turned around in his swivel chair. He pushed a few buttons on the on the side of the screen and they were looking right into Artemises workroom. Through the screen they saw...  
  
Artemis sat in front of one of his computers. Recently he had been researching fairies. He was determined that they existed and was going to prove it, but every time he sat down at his computer he had an odd sense of déjà vu. Somehow, no matter how strange it seemed, he was sure that the emptiness inside of him was related to fairies. That was partly why he was so determined to find them, no luck.  
  
He knew Butler also felt empty and now it seemed the time to confront that feeling.  
  
"Butler," he called over the intercom.  
  
"Yes Artemis?"  
  
"Could you come up here for a second?"  
  
"I'll be right up."  
  
When Butler entered he saw his young charge sitting by the computer looking up at him.  
  
"There is something I think will help us on our goal to finding fairies." Artemis said with a grin.  
  
Butler raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. He knew Artemis would tell him when he was ready.  
  
"Ever sense, oh, two months back we both have felt rather empty inside. Nether of us has said anything, but it as plane as can be. I have a feeling that this is somehow related to fairies."  
  
"I have noticed that too. Like we have met them before."  
  
Artemis smiled, that was exactly what he had been thinking.  
  
... "D'Arvit." Root snarled. "Is there any way to stop this kid?"  
  
Holly made sure not to seem like she was glad, she even told herself that she wasn't, but in her heart she was secretly pleased.  
  
"You know Julius," Foaly said as he watched Roots face get redder. "It might be beast to remind Fowl that we are here."  
  
"And why would we do such a thing? If I remember right we just tried to make him forget."  
  
"Well you see..."  
  
"No Foaly, I don't see."  
  
Foaly tut tuted at Root as if he wee an impatient child. "If you'll let me finish, then I'll tell you what you don't see. Now, if you remember, last time Fowl learned about the fairies he wasn't very nice. When we erased his memory, maybe all we did was put him back to space one. How do we know that he won't try to steal our gold again?"  
  
"True, said Holly, "it seems unavoidable that he messes with The People, so we might as well have the nicer Artemis then the mean one."  
  
Root snorted; it seemed that even at the end of their last meeting, he would not have considered Artemis 'nice'. "All right, but if the Council gets world of this, we're dead."  
  
A/N: I hope you liked it. Now please review. 


	2. Odd Fight

Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl.  
  
A/N: thank you to everyone for reviewing *gives them cookies*. I think the romance will be Holly/Artemis, but I'm open to suggestions.  
  
Chapter 2: Odd Fight  
  
"Now, what should we do about the mud men with our technology?" Root said, taking a poof on his fungus sugar.  
  
"Well, that seems pretty obvious, doesn't it?" Foaly replied.  
  
"If it was obvious, pony boy, I wouldn't have asked." Foaly knew that, but it was still fun to watch Root's face get redder.  
  
"I was thinking that we would just send Holly up for a short look then decide our next course of action from there. Oh yeah, and while she was up there she could give Fowl his memories back."  
  
"O.K. Holly, be ready to go above in 5."  
  
"Yes sir," she said and trotted of to get ready. She had mixed feelings about her mission; the first was that she was glad to be doing something again. All the rest were more of a jumble, too confused to make anything from.  
  
At the shuttle station Root was waiting for her.  
  
"Where should I go first, Commander?"  
  
"Foaly got the placement of where the fight toot place the it turns out to be about two miles closer then the Fowl Manner, so you go to the fight seen first. Foaly will give you the coordinates when you get above ground. Now go."  
  
Holly stepped into the shuttle and buckled in. When she was above ground she strapped on one of the pairs of wings kept there for LEP officers.  
  
"O.K. Foaly," she said into her helmet, "give me the location," two red dots appeared in her view screen.  
  
"The closer one is where the fight took place. Go to there and see if you can find anything that might tell us how these mud men got our technology, but don't do anything, we don't want there to be any evidence that we were here."  
  
"Got that Foaly."  
  
"And Captain?" Root's voice came though the mike, "try not to get yourself killed."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
As Holly flew over the Irish landscape, she started to wish that the fight had token place farther away. She loved to fly. The wind raced pasted her cheek and made her giddy, she laughed for the sake of laughing. The green rolling hills were small beneath her. In the distance she could see the town where the fight had taken place. Quickly, to quickly for her liking, the town larger.  
  
Houses now were under her feet. As the first red dot on her view screen got closer she could hear gun shots in the up ahead. Stupid mud people, she thought to herself.  
  
Holly slowed her flying and landed on a rooftop. She double-checked to make sure her shield was on, it had been since she started flying, but she didn't like the thought of being seen.  
  
Looking down into the street below she could see the man who was shooting. The odd thing about it was that there was no visible people he was shooting at. It appeared that the other two people in the fight had fled because there was no sight of them and no bodies on the ground.  
  
"Foaly, what do you make of this?" she asked in a quiet whisper.  
  
"It looks like he's mad."  
  
"Is he the one with the neutrino?"  
  
"Just a minute, let me check," Holly waited for a few seconds, then she heard a little beep and her view screen was magnified. In the man's hand was the Neutrino 2000 "Stun him," Root said.  
  
Holly pulled out her Neutrino 2000 and leveled it on her arm. She set the energy level to 'stun' and fired. By some strange coincidence, the man turned right as she was firing and shot. Holly didn't have time to duck. The bullet caught her squarely in the arm. For a minute her shield was down, but by a lucky chance the man was stunned by the time he could have seen her.  
  
"Holly, are you all right?" it was Foaly, he sounded worried.  
  
"I'm fine, and I have enough power to heal it," once her shield was up she flew down to see if she could discover how neutrinos got into the hands of mud people.  
  
The first thing she found out was that his name was David Boon (A/N if anyone has that name I mean you no offence). His name was on a Safeway tag.  
  
"Foaly, could you look up that name for me?"  
  
"Already on it."  
  
"Root, should I take the gun?"  
  
"Why would we leave one of our guns in the hands of a mud man?"  
  
"Just because you said that I should make it look like no one was here."  
  
"You already stunned him Captain Short. I doubt any one will think that he stunned himself."  
  
"Do we have time for jokes now Julius?"  
  
"FOALY, DON'T CALL ME JULIUS."  
  
Holly chuckled to herself as she strapped the extra gun to her belt. "Have you got anything on this David Boon guy yet?" she asked Foaly.  
  
"He lives in an apartment neat the town you are currently in. He works at Safeway as a clerk. Ah, and he has been to jail twice.  
  
"What for?" Root asked.  
  
"Well, the first was for pick-pocketing and the second was for illegal weapons dealing."  
  
"O.K., Holly head over to Fowl's house and give him his memories, but first heal yourself."  
  
"Yes sir," she said. She touched her arm and murmured 'heal' to herself. Blue sparks danced around the wound and she watched as it closed, leaving a tender new skin where it had been.  
  
Holly quickly was flying again, towards Artemis Fowl.  
  
A/N sorry that chapter is shorter, it just turned out that way. I think the next chapter will be up some time this weekend *thinks*. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. Please tell me what you want to happen and I will see if I can make that work. Review please! 


	3. Fowl

Disclaimer: I still don't own.  
  
A/N: I'm sorry, I know I said this fic was going to a bit romantic and it isn't yet *looks around at an angry crowd*. I'll try to put some in this chapter.  
  
Chapter 3: Fowl  
  
"O.K. Root, how do you want me to remind Fowl of our existence?" as she got nearer to his house, if you could call it just a 'house'.  
  
"Fly around the windows or something. Just enough so he sees you."  
  
"And if he asks why?"  
  
"Tell him the truth, but if you can help it don't mention anything about the fight."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Holly notice the car in the driveway and sighed to herself, that took out the easy possibility that he wasn't home and she would be able just to leave a note or something. Ah well, maybe if she was quiet enough she still could. But did she want to? She didn't know what she wanted to happen. She knew life would definitely be more exciting with Fowl around, and she liked that idea. But she had wondered when she erased his memory if she had turned him back into a monster, what if even when he remembered The People he was still one? She would just have to find out.  
  
Holly circled the house, looking for an occupied room. When she found Artemis' workroom she hovered. Artemis was in the room, but so was his mother.  
  
"What now?" she whispered in to her helmet.  
  
"Wait until his mother leaves," Foaly's voice came in her ear.  
  
At long last (well maybe not that long) Angeline Fowl left her son in peace. Holly turned off her shield and waited.  
  
Artemis had been trying to find fairies again when his mother had come in. He had quickly changed the screen to the homework he was supposed to be going until his mother left. He had gotten a lead now and it seemed to be a good one. That was when he turned to look out the window.  
  
Holly was floating quietly when she saw Artemis turn his head.  
  
Artemis stared for a minute. His brain not really taking in what he saw, a pretty girl floating outside his window. Then the emptiness he had been pondering over for the last two months seemed to disappear. Who was this girl?  
  
Holly could see the memory slowly come back into Artemis' eyes.  
  
"Holly?" he said slowly.  
  
"Yes Artemis?" she replied, as if he had just asked a simple question.  
  
Artemis got up and opened the window so they could talk better. "I take it there some mud men who has dealing with you, and you thought I was the culprit?"  
  
Holly smiled, Artemis had not changed. "No, Foaly was just keeping watch on you when he found that you were about to discover us again. He thought that you might try to steal our gold again so I got sent here to give you back your memories."  
  
"How nice to know that someone is watching me," he said, then a gleam came into his eyes that Holly was not sure she liked, "has any of The People tried to contact me before this?"  
  
"No, unless the without the LEP's knowledge."  
  
"Then it's not likely, but now that you're here, there's something that you might find interesting."  
  
"What, Fowl," even if they had been rather friends at the end of their last adventure Holly wasn't ready to bet that he might be planing something.  
  
As if Artemis had read her mind he said, "Don't worry, I'm not against The People any more."  
  
"O.K., but it better stay that way."  
  
"It will."  
  
Holly flew through the window and landed, she decided not to take off her wings incase Angeline came back into the room. "So what is it that I might find 'interesting'?"  
  
"This," as Artemis said that he typed a few keys on the keyboard and opened an E-mail. He then moved aside so Holly could see.  
  
It read: Dear Artemis, The LEP would like to talk to you about getting your help. Please at the Mexican Café near your house at 1:30 on Tuesday, March 2nd.  
Commander  
  
"Foaly, do you see this?" Holly asked in a whisper.  
  
"It looks like someone's pretending to be the LEP."  
  
"March 2nd, that's in two days," Holly said, more to herself then anyone else, "have you tried to track this letter?"  
  
"Can't, I tried."  
  
"What do you say Root?"  
  
"Somehow this seems to be related to our earlier problem."  
  
"What problem?" Artemis asked.  
  
"Doesn't concern you, mud boy, so don't get any ideas."  
  
"I'm afraid that if whoever caused you a problem is also trying to contact me, then it does concern me."  
  
"But why would they want you to have your memories? Who ever is doing this is against us and last time someone tried to destroy the LEP you helped us," Holly said, her brow wrinkled in thought.  
  
"Two reasons, one, they don't know about the mind-wipe and want me to come to this restaurant so they can kill me before you ask me for help, or two, they know about the mind-wipe and want me to remember in a way that puts me on their side. Ether way it concerns me."  
  
"He's right Commander, we should probably tell him."  
  
"Fine," Holly winked at Artemis it was good to have him back.  
  
"Should I get Butler to come up here, he is still mind-wiped."  
  
"O.K., but this doesn't mean that we have a deal or anything," Root sounded like he was speaking through gritted teeth, and knowing him he probably was.  
  
"Butler, could you come up here for a minute? There's some people I'd like you to meet." Artemis slipped his hand into Holly's, and to his surprise he didn't get a punch in the nose for it. He was glad to see her again.  
  
A/N another chapter finisher! *Dances around for joy*. O.K., so there was a bit of romance, I told you there would be. I want to get chapter 4 up sometime this week. Now would you please review? Please! 


	4. Discussions

Disclaimer: What am I suppose to say here? Oh yeah, the world's about to end. Darn, wrong again, *throws hand in air*. Wait, it's coming back to me, I do not own Artemis Fowl, do I?  
  
A/N: sorry it's been so long. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. You help me a lot.  
  
Chapter 4: Discussions  
  
Butler hurried up the stairs to his charge. How could there be people Artemis wanted him to meet? No one had entered the house that hadn't left. Well, he would just have to go and see.  
  
When he entered Artemis' workroom the only person he saw was Artemis.  
  
"Come in Butler, and close the door."  
  
Butler knew there was something rather strange going on, but he trusted his employer to know what was best. He guessed it had something to do with fairies. When the door closed he saw a form materialize in front of him. He reached for his gun, but stopped. For a minute he just stood there, "hello Holly, long time no see."  
  
Same to you, I hope you haven't had too much of a...dangerous time lately," her eyes flicked over to Artemis and Butler knew what she was thinking, so far every time the fairies had encountered them it had not been what you would call 'safe and easy'.  
  
"O.K., enough chit chat, down to business," Root's voice came through Holly's helmet.  
  
"So what is this 'problem' that you have?"  
  
"We found a mud man with a Neutrino 2000," Foaly stated plainly.  
  
"Don't start thinking that you can help us and get reworded, we've had enough of that," Root growled.  
  
A strange expression crossed Artemis' face. It seemed almost like sorrow, that show of emotion startled Holly. Then he was back to normal.  
  
"You see Butler, we think that gave humans these guns also was the one who sent me that letter..."  
  
"Sorry to interrupt, but one of the Council members is knocking on my door so we have to cut the line," Foaly's voice was hurried.  
  
"Go ahead," Holly told the centaur.  
  
"Captain Short, don't go after whoever this is until I get back too you," Root informed her.  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"And..."  
  
"Cut the line Foaly. Both of you can get back to me later," Holly almost shouted. The line went dead, she was on her own to deal with Fowl.  
  
"I take it the Council doesn't know you're up here? And if they did they wouldn't be very happy?" Artemis asked, as usual knowing he was right.  
  
"Precisely."  
  
"Do you have the gun with you at the moment?" Artemis asked.  
  
"Yes I do," Holly replied, frowning slightly, she could sense the beginnings of a plan.  
  
"Could I see it?" there was nothing in his voice that made Holly think she should refuse. But she also knew that Root would not approve of arming the most dangerous mud boy with fairy technology.  
  
Artemis seemed to sense her hesitation because he said, "I am not an enemy of The People any more, you have nothing to fear from me."  
  
"Alright." and she handed him the gun that had been taken from David Boon.  
  
Artemis examined it carefully. "Uh oh," he said after a while.  
  
"What did you find," Holly asked, hoping that this would be the clue they needed.  
  
"Someone seems to have let the secret out on how to make these."  
  
"They can't, that's LEP classified information."  
  
"Then there must be a traitor within the LEP. Look at this," he handed her the gun and pointed to some writing on it's side.  
  
'Made in the US'.  
  
"Oh," Holly couldn't think of anything else to say. Humans and gotten a hold of fairy technology.  
  
"We can track the gun by its cereal number to pinpoint exactly where it was made. It might actually be easier this way given that if they were being stolen from the LEP we would have less of a lead."  
  
"Could I ask you something? Why you're helping us?" Holly had been quite surprised when he hadn't said he would help them as long as he got some reword.  
  
"I think it's time I repaid my debt to The People," even Butler had not expected this. Artemis was shoeing more signs of emotions since Holly had come then he had in over a month.  
  
"Found it, these guns are being manufactured in Seattle, Washington. We have two options of what to do. One, we head over there right now, which would mean you would have to disobey Root's orders.  
  
"I don't think he would like that, so what's the other option?" Holly had a feeling that she would like just about as much as she did the first.  
  
"We wait until March 2, me and Butler go in to see what they want and you give us back-up if we need it."  
  
"In other words you would be the bait."  
  
"Basically."  
  
"Artemis, I don't think that would be wise," as much as she hated to admit it Holly didn't like the thought of using Artemis as bait.  
  
"What is it you see as a problem? They just have neutrinos, which we would have, and we would be able to surprise them."  
  
"You see, that's just it, we don't know if they 'just have neutrinos'. As far as we know they could have better weapons then us."  
  
"So you'd prefer to disobey Root?"  
  
"We don't have to if we wait until he gets back to us."  
  
"That wouldn't be much of an option."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because my mom just left and when she returns she'll make me do my homework which would mean it would be to late."  
  
"O.K. then, let's go now," Holly covered her mouth with her hand to hide her laughter. She looked up at Butler to see his eyes twinkling.  
  
"What is it with you two?" Artemis asked.  
  
Both of them shook their heads.  
  
Artemis decided to ignore them. "We have 5 minutes most to get out of here before my mom gets back. Butler would get the car ready? I have to leave a note for my mother."  
  
Butler walked out smiling, this was what he was born to do.  
  
Artemis grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a note saying he was visiting a park. It wasn't something that he would do, but he knew his mother would be pleased, thinking that her son might make a friend.  
  
When he turned around he saw that Holly was still there, as he had expected and hoped. As he got up from the chair he leaned closer to her, making it look like an accident. Quickly he kissed her on the cheek.  
  
Holly was so surprised she didn't act at first then she punched him squarely in the nose. By the time he stood up Holly was gone.  
  
"Where's Artemis?" Butler asked her when she got into the Bentley.  
  
"He'll be down in a minute," she said completely innocent.  
  
A/N I hope that was enough romance for everybody. I promise there will be more in the next chapter (which should be out by Friday). Please review and tell me what you think. 


	5. The Plane

Disclaimer: *person walks on stage* the announcer is currently taking a nap (I might add that she is supposed to be up here right now so I am going to steal her paycheck). So she gave me a list of things to tell you. One lwoF simetrA nwo ton seod ehs. And two, rebmun laires dna laerec neewteb ekatsim eht tuoba yrros si ehs. Wait, oops that's backwards, O.K. this is what it says. One, she does not own Artemis Fowl. And two, she is sorry about the mistake between cereal and serial number. *Somebody whispers in his ear* WHAT! She doesn't have a pay check!?!  
  
Chapter Five: The Plane  
  
The first ten or so minutes they spent the trip in silence. Then Holly had to ask the question that was buzzing around her head; "So you left your mother a note saying that you were at the park. And in the time you will be at the 'park' we will go down to America, see who is making neutrinos, and get back?"  
  
"That's pretty much how it's going to work," Artemis said, rubbing the sore spot on his nose.  
  
Holly decided to leave it at that. Artemis was hardly ever wrong, she just hoped that that stayed true.  
  
"Holly?" the voice came through her helmet.  
  
"Yes Root?" she wasn't sure she was going to like this, Root had sounded mad.  
  
"Why are you riding in a car. I thought I told you not to act without confirming with me?!"  
  
"That's my fault, not Holly's," Artemis' voice was quiet. Holly was taken aback, Artemis was actually admitting to fault. He had been acting very weird lately. Root seemed surprised too because he didn't answer right away. At last he did speak.  
  
"And why is it your fault mud boy?"  
  
"Because we had to leave before my mother got home."  
  
"I see," it was a lie, "And why did you have to leave?"  
  
"For one thing," Holly answered this time, "It's not just that someone has given neutrinos to mud men, they also gave away the secret of making them."  
  
"Oh," was all Root said.  
  
Holly continued to fill the silence, "So we decided to head off to the US where they're being made. Foaly can you see what you could get on this place? It's in Seattle, Washington, US."  
  
"I know where Seattle is, you don't have to tell me," Foaly's voice sounded hurt. "O.K., I got it, you can say I'm a genius. There's what appears to be old storage space under the Space Needle, but I can locate many neutrinos in that area."  
  
"Yes Foaly, you're a genius. So how are we getting there?"  
  
"Well normally we would have you take a shuttle," Artemis groaned, "Don't lose your head mud boy, since we have to hide all this from the Council, I don't think that will be an option."  
  
"Why do I have the feeling that however else we can get there is not something I am going to like?" Holly asked.  
  
"I think that would be because you are not going to like it, the only way we have left is by plane," Root's grumbling came through clearly and it was obvious that he had not know about this plan ether.  
  
"Foaly, you know I can't go on a plan!" Holly was more then a bit scared at this idea.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"How often to you think they see three foot tall people on a plane!"  
  
"There are such thing as three foot tall mud people, you'll just have to pass as one of those."  
  
"But..."  
  
"Captain Short, that's an order."  
  
"Butler, could you get us some tickets on the next flight out?" Artemis asked the manservant.  
  
"No need, I already got you some, you flight leaves in three hours," Foaly sounded rather smug at beating Artemis for once.  
  
A/N Ahhhhhhh! Short chapter! Sorry I didn't get it up sooner. Tell me what you think of the announcer (that was Joe Bobby and I don't think I will hire him again, but I might hire somebody else to do it). Thank you to everyone who reviewed. You're my favorite! 


	6. Midget

Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl. Are you surprised?  
  
A/N Sorry no romance in the last chapter.  
  
Chapter Six: Midget  
  
Half way to the airport Artemis' cell phone rang. "Hello?... Yes mother... Everyone?... Goodbye. That was my mother, she, my father and Juliet are taking a vacation Spain."  
  
"I take it this is why you were not worried about being gone so long?" Holly asked.  
  
"Yes," he replied her simply.  
  
At the airport Holly exposed, she had put all her LEP weaponry in a travel bag (Foaly had installed them so they could not be picked up by sensors).  
  
"Look, there's a midget!" someone in a group of teenage boys said. They obviously hadn't noticed that Butler was with them.  
  
"I don't think that's very wise," Artemis calmly told them.  
  
They scoffed at him, "And why not?" the tallest of their group asked.  
  
Butler cracked his knuckles menacingly; the boys scattered.  
  
"Thank you," Holly said with a chuckle.  
  
As she walked through the scanner that checked for weapons Holly hopped desperately that the radar deflector Foaly had put on her gun worked. It did, she had forgotten that the soles of her shoes had steel lining. The metal detector beeped.  
  
"Step this way little girl," the security guard said to her. Thinking that her size had to do with age rather them species, you can't really blame the guard for that.  
  
Holly looked around franticly, it was too crowded to try and mesmer the guard, someone would be bound to notice. Well, maybe someone would notice.  
  
Holly smiled up at the guard, "O.K.," she said brightly, layering her voice with the mesmer. The guard's will was not strong; he was bored and put up no resistance. When she was at the place where they he wanted she asked him a question, "Could I see your metal detector? It's fascinating how it works," she changed her voice slightly so she sounded more like the 'little girl' he had called her.  
  
"Sure," he said, his voice emotionless under the mesmer.  
  
When he gave it to her she turned it over in her hands, quickly she turned it off and gave it back to him. It took about five minutes for him to see if she was carrying in metal, then she was off. When she was a few passes away she released him from the mesmer so he could go back to work.  
  
"It really would have been faster to take a shuttle," she muttered to Artemis.  
  
"No, this is a lot better," if she hadn't known he so well she would have never guessed that he was amused.  
  
"You just don't like shuttles," she retorted.  
  
"What is there to like?"  
  
She laughed openly at this; some people would never understand the thrill of core diving.  
  
"We'd better be going," Butler told them.  
  
Artemis bent down to tie his shoe. He smiled at the back of Holly's head, he longed to caress it, but his nose wouldn't let him. Someday, maybe.  
  
They all sat down in the waiting area to, obviously wait.  
  
"So what's our plan after we reach Seattle?" Artemis asked.  
  
"The long term plan is to stop whatever is going on. But first we need to find out who sold the secret of making the neutrinos," Holly told him.  
  
"Ooh, isn't that cute, to little kids pretending to be adults," the woman siting in the row behind them said.  
  
Artemis was about to say something witty to the woman when he caught Holly's eye. "It's best just to let her believe whatever she likes," she informed him in a low voice.  
  
Artemis agreed, he was mad at himself; he had almost run the risk of their plan failing. If the woman thought that the plan was real she might have told someone in Seattle. It was unlikely that that person would know about the neutrinos but there was still a chance.  
  
"What's the chance of this plan crashing?" Holly asked. She had tried not to show that she was nervous but she had to know.  
  
"Oh, it's about one out of three possibility that we will all die in the ocean," Artemis said back.  
  
Holly stared at him, how in the world had she ever been foolish enough to think about boarding this mud man device. Then she noticed that Artemis was grinning slightly.  
  
"That's not true, I know it's not," she told him.  
  
"Of course it's not," he said.  
  
"You'll get it someday for that, I'll make sure you do."  
  
Artemis made a mental note to himself to stay with Butler at all times for the rest of his life. He had seen Holly in a temper before and he didn't want to again. Once was plenty.  
  
Holly seemed to notice what he was thinking because she grinned at him evilly. "Or would you like a lollypop?" she said in an innocent voice.  
  
He gave her the coldest glare that he could, it usually had the effect of scaring whoever he was looking at, but it seemed to bounce of Holly like she was made of rubber.  
  
"The plane has arrived and you will be boarding in five minute. Please gather your bags and prepare to load," in female voice said over the intercom.  
  
After the last person got off the plane they were told to line up in three different lines of what class tickets they had. Holly, Artemis and Butler all had first class tickets, thanks to Foaly.  
  
Holly got even more nervous as she boarded the plane. No matter how much she told herself that there had been test runs and that this plane had never crashed before she was still nervous.  
  
The seats were in rows of four, Butler on the end, Holly in the middle and Artemis on the edge with an empty seat beside him.  
  
The last person in the line of first class tickets sat in that seat.  
  
A/N hehehehe, cliffhanger. Actually, I don't know who that person should be, could somebody please give me a character to be that person? It could be you or just someone you made up. (Please no people form other stories.) Just tell me what they look they look like and a bit of their personality. Please! Somebody! 


	7. Michelle

Disclaimer: can you guess what it is? O.K., I know you can *sob*, I don't own Artemis Fowl. Isn't that horrible? Anyway, our guest in the story will be... Michelle! (I just picked a random one that I thought would go good in the story.) Well, you came here to read, not to listen to me babble, so here's the story.  
  
Chapter Seven: Michelle  
  
It was a girl of 12 who sat down next to Artemis. Her black hair was layered and highlighted with red. Artemis paid her no attention.  
  
"Is this your first time on a plane?" the girl asked him.  
  
"No," he told her shortly.  
  
"It's my first time, I'm going to visit my grandma."  
  
Artemis didn't know how to react, he had never know someone so focused on talking to him. Most people tried once realized that he wouldn't talk back and didn't try again.  
  
"Do you know how extremely annoying it is for me to have to talk to someone of lower intelligence then myself?" he asked her.  
  
"Most likely that is very annoying, but since you haven't proved that you are smarter them me you probably shouldn't say that."  
  
Artemis heard a chuckle on the other side of him and turned around. Holly was grinning at him.  
  
"Are you intentionally being annoying?" he asked the girl.  
  
"I think I would have to say yes to that," she replied him. "What's your name anyway?"  
  
"I think that would be none of your business."  
  
"I was just thinking that because we are going to be sitting next to each other for around 16 hours we might try to get to know each other a bit. But it seems you aren't interested in getting to know new people so I won't try," so she started whistling as loud as she could.  
  
Artemis was very tempted to say that because they were going to be sitting next to each other for so long she should shut up or he would throw her out the window. But then again, you couldn't open plane windows.  
  
After about twenty minutes of the girl's whistling he turned to ask Butler to knock her on the head so she would be quite. When he turned he saw both Holly and his bodyguard laughing at him.  
  
"It's nice to see you suffer for a change," Holly told him.  
  
"To you maybe."  
  
"Oh no, I think the rest of the world enjoys it to. And if you're so annoyed why don't you just ask her to stop?"  
  
It was true, that would be easier then throwing her out the window. And surprisingly enough, no one next to them a asked her.  
  
"O.K., whatever. Girl?" he said to her, "Would you mind stopping?"  
  
"Agoo?" she said in a perfect imitation of a two-year-old.  
  
"Don't you wish we had taken a shuttle?" Holly asked him in an evil voice.  
  
Artemis put his head in his hands, how would he ever live to see Seattle?  
  
"And my names not 'girl' it's Michelle," Michelle told him.  
  
"Whatever," Artemis would have to get a better tolerance for such things. Who had ever head of a criminal mastermind saying 'whatever'? Twice! Twice in the last few minutes he had used that word.  
  
"So what's your name," Michelle asked.  
  
"That is still none of your business."  
  
"You're right, it's not, but that doesn't mean you have to get all hot headed with me."  
  
"Fine, my name's Artemis Fowl the Second, I am a criminal mastermind as was my father and his father back for over a hundred years. That satisfy you?"  
  
"I've heard of you, or at least who you say you are. You're the one who sold the Great Pyramids."  
  
"How do you know about that?" Artemis was sure that that deal had been top secret.  
  
"My daddy bought them from you, I spend most of my time crawling around in them."  
  
Now it was no mystery why this girl was so hyper, her father was a hard man. She was probably alone for mast of her life, so if she hadn't been able to keep herself amused she would have gone mad.  
  
By now the plane had been in flight for about ten minutes and they had been on it for a little less then thirty.  
  
"You may now unfasten your set belts," said the flight attendant over the intercom.  
  
Noise filled the plane as people unbuckled their seat belts. About half an hour latter the flight attendant came by to offer everyone some snacks. And then, disaster struck.  
  
A/N cliffhanger, cliffhanger! Hehehehehehe. Don't worry, I won't keep you in the dark to long. Sorry that's a short chapter *ducks as rotten food is thrown at her*, next one will be longer. Btw, tell me what you think of bringing in a guest (if people like it I will do it again). And did I do Michelle right? Anyway, review! 


	8. Abandoned Island

Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl *sigh*. I will just have to live with it.  
  
A/N Sorry it took soooooo long for me to update *ducks as people throw rotten food at her*. I know I haven't done this before so I'm sorry if you wanted me to earlier but here is review answers for chapter seven:  
  
Princess Arwen Evenstar 77: I'm glad I did Michelle right.  
  
Karina: You'll see soon where the disaster is from.  
  
ShnazzySpazzy: Thank you for telling me all that, and no, it did not sound like a flame. I'll fix the made in the US thing in this chapter. I do have a beta reader now so I hope you're happy.  
  
Sorden: Sorry to keep you in suspense for so long.  
  
Moonteller: I'm glad that you liked Michelle, I think I might add more guests *thinks*.  
  
Kandice: I don't really know ether how someone could buy a pyramid, but it does say in the first book that Artemis sold them so I guess it can be done.  
  
Sweetdeath04: You'll see what the disaster is. Hope you like it.  
  
Hex:21: OK, I've updated, I try never to take to long.  
  
SpikeTV58: I'm happy that you like it.  
  
Chaotic pink chocobo: I've updated. I hope you like this chapter too.  
  
Starry Eyes12: The disaster is reveled in this chapter.  
  
Now back to the story. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Chapter Eight: Abandoned Island  
  
The front of the plane went up in a tower of fire. The captain and the flight attendant came running out with their arms over their heads.  
  
"Everybody grab a parachute!" yelled the captain while the attendant burst into hysterical sobs.  
  
Butler reached into the overhead compartment and threw one to Holly, Artemis and a very surprised Michelle. Then plane started to do a nosedive into the ocean that they had just started to cross.  
  
Everyone scrambled into the aisle as fast as they could; no one wanted to be stuck on the plane when it hit the ground. (A/N I have never been in a plane when it crashed so I don't know what would exactly happen.) As Holly stood up her bootlace caught on something under the chair. She fell, unable to free herself. She tried to untie it but she couldn't reach under the seat far enough.  
  
"What happened?" Artemis shouted over the roar of the wind.  
  
"My foot is stuck," she yelled back. The last of the people had left now; only Holly, Butler, and Artemis were still aboard. As the plane got to the point where it was almost vertical Holly felt something on her foot.  
  
"Keep your foot still for a moment," it was Michelle; she had somehow sneaked under the seat and was untangling the bootlace.  
  
Time seemed to creep by at an impossibly slow rate. Finally Holly's foot was free; she got up quickly and staggered over to where Artemis stood. Butler and Michelle followed suit and they left the plane.  
  
Far below them they could see the tops of parachutes floating down into the water. The shore was not far away and swimming to it should not prove difficult. As the foursome opened their parachutes the plane fell below them.  
  
Michelle felt dizzy looking down from this height; the wind sent her black, red streaked hair flaying like a banner behind her. When she pulled the cord of the parachute she got a jerk that felt hard enough to break her spine. It looked like they were going to land right with the other people in the water but nature always has to throw in something to complicit things. A strong gust of wind came and blew them further away from shore. Groans could be heard from almost everyone in the group.  
  
"Holly, do you have your wings with you?" Artemis shouted as loud as he could, but to everyone else it sounded faint and far away.  
  
"There're on the plane," she shouted back.  
  
To Michelle this sounded very weird to have some one talking about having wings. But then again after her father had bought the pyramids he had told her that if Artemis wanted to do something he would have no trouble doing so, so building a set of wings would probably not be hard for him.  
  
The wind continued to blow them further away from land as if it was seeing how far it could go before they hit the water.  
  
"It's not funny!" Michelle shouted to the wind as if it might listen and take them back. Of course it did no such thing for all her shouting. Michelle was starting to really get a headache now and her fear that they were all going to drown wasn't helping.  
  
"There's a little piece of land down there! Aim for that if you can," Butler yelled to them all. They looked and sure enough by the time they reached the water they should be near it.  
  
When they were maybe 15 feet above the ground that they were aiming for all of them got a bit scared. Even trained experts like Holly and Butler couldn't help be a scared when they were coming out of the sky faster then they should and trying to land on a very small, rocky place. Out of all of them Michelle and Butler were the only ones who landed directly on the island. The others came down a bit to the sides where they could easily climb on. It really wasn't much of an island, more of a pile of rock that would be covered when the tide came in.  
  
For a few minutes they all just lay there, glad to be alive and not wanting to have to think about the future. In the end it was Holly who spoke first, "Foaly is going to kill me when I get back, I just lost the most equipment in one mission, it must be a record."  
  
"Right now you might want to worry more about getting back then what will happen when you get there," Artemis told her. "I wonder who made the plane crash and why."  
  
"It could have just been some kind of technical failure," Michelle replied.  
  
"No, it wasn't. One, I checked before I got on the plane and two, planes don't explode like that when then have a technical failure. Someone made that crash happen," Artemis responded.  
  
"Whatever made it happen is not our immediate problem, when the tide comes in, this rock is going to disappear and we don't want to be here when it happens," Michelle said.  
  
"You know, for the most hyper person I have ever met you are quite sensible," Holly told her. "And Artemis, on that neutrino wouldn't Foaly or I have seen that it was made in the US?"  
  
"You might have, but it was written about as small as can be."  
  
"Then how did you find it?"  
  
"I was looking for it."  
  
"Why do I have the feeling that there is something I don't know?" Michelle asked.  
  
"Because there is probably a lot of things you don't know and I don't feel like taking the time to tell you," Artemis informed her coldly.  
  
Holly chuckled; it was just like Artemis to find one of the rudest ways to get someone to change the topic. Michelle seemed to have noticed Holly's laugh because she asked; "Has he always been like this?"  
  
"Oh, he used to be much worse."  
  
"Then I pity all who knew him."  
  
"Your father is worse then me if my memory serves me," Artemis told her.  
  
"True, I pity all who know him too."  
  
"Do you pity yourself then?" Holly asked.  
  
"No, I don't think I could say that I know him."  
  
Holly felt a sudden surge of pity for his girl who could calmly say that she didn't know her father well enough for it to mean anything. Her own father had died some 20 years ago, it had been hard for her when it happened, and she doubted that if Michelle's father died it would be that hard for anybody.  
  
"Does anybody here happen to have a cell phone?" Michelle asked.  
  
"I do, but unless you can call someone who can get a helicopter over here it won't be much use," Artemis said.  
  
"That's exactly what I plan to do," Michelle said with a grin.  
  
A/N how did you like that chapter? I'm sorry it took so long to update. I've been really busy preparing for a flute concert (as in some kind a rehearsal almost every day). Well anyway, REVIEW! 


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